Trolley-contact.



A. H. CAVEN.

TROLLEY CONTACT.

APPUCATION FILED MAY?,1914.

l 1 38,279. Patented May 4, 1915.

Witnesses W A I: T In...

Attorneys ALVA HAYS CAVEN, 0F YOUNGW'OOD, PENNSYLVANIA.

TnoLLnY-ooNTAor.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May a, 1915.

Application filed. May 7, 1914. Serial No. 837,042.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that 1, ALVA H. CAVEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Youngwood, in the county of Westmoreland and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Trolley-Contact, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to imp-rovements in trolley contacts, one object of the invention, being the provision of a novel contact, adapted to be connected to and support ed from a trolley wire and constituting a means whereby current is diverted from the trolley wire through the wheel to signal controlling means, as are particularly set forth in my co -pending application Serial No. 807,296 and my U. S. Letters Patent issued July 1, 1913, No. 1,066,380, one object of the present invention being the provision of a construction, in which the wheel engaging contacts are properly supported and insulated from the protecting hood so as to prevent accidental arcing with the trolley wire and also whereby an overlapping contact with the trolley wheel may be produced to operate the switch of the signal controlling solenoid as particularly set forth in my copcnding application filed even date herewith, Serial No. 837,043.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of my complete contact. Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates a trolley wire'which is properly supported from the plate 2 and is connected by the screw 3 to the block 4 of insulation. Connected to the block 4 and housing the same from above is a metal hood 5, which is open at both ends, the aprons 6-6 being diverged downwardly to correspond with the opposite walls of the block 4, so that rain or snow may be properly drained therefrom. The screws 7 constitute a means for attaching the hood 5 to the block 4.

Attached to the inner face of the respective aprons 66 of the hood 5 are the strips 8 and 8 of insulation to each of which is attached a metal contact member 9 or 9, These metal contact members 9 and 9 are attached at one end only as at 10, their free ends 11 being disposed for sliding movement through a strap 12 attached to the respective strips of insulation. As the contact strips 9 and 9 are upon each side of the trolley wire 1, the peculiar mounting thereof permits a slight resiliency in each member to accommodate for varying sized trolley wheels, so that when a wheel engages the trolley 1 in passing below the hood 5, the sides of the wheel will engage the respective contact plates 9 and 9 and thus shunt the current from the trolley to the plates 9 or 9' and to conductors led therefrom, there being a conductor led from each contact plate 9 or 9 to its respective controlling solenoids (not shown).

It will be noted in Fig. 1 that the contact plate 9 as viewed from the left is slightly in advance of the contact plate 9, thus insuring the engagement of the plate 9 when the trolley wheel is moving from left to right before the wheel engages the plate 9, thus the circuit controlled by the contact plate 9 will beenergized and before the trolley wheel has disengaged the contact plate 9, the same will engage the contact plate 9 and thus shunt the current or circuit to the plate 9 and the solenoid controlled thereby. The particular reason for this is clearly set forth in my co-pending application filed even date herewith, and in which the present detail structure is also illustrated. With this form of trolley contact, and as in systems when trolley cars operate in one or both directions, a car entering the block and then backing from the same block will cause the signals to indicate such to cars in adj aoent blocks.

WVhat is claimed is:

A trolley switch, including a trolley wire supporting member, a block of insulation attached thereabove and supported thereby, a metal hood attached to the block'of'insulation and held in contact with the trolley carrying member by the block of insulation said metal hood being provided with two longitudinally disposed and depending parallel aprons, two insulating strips of equal length, one strip attached to the inner face of each apron, said strips being disposed in overlapped relation and each extending from its respective end of the hood to a point beyond the center of the hood, and two resilient engage both contact plates to finally engage metal plates of equal length disposed one only the second contact plate.

upon each side of and parallel to the trolley In testimony that I claim the foregoing as wire, the terminals of said plate being conmy own, I have hereto aflixed my signature nected tobthgir respective insulating sgripi in the presence of two witnesses.

and there rom the hood, t 1e inner en s o the contact plates being disposed in over- ALVA HAYS CAVEN' lapped relation, whereby a trolley wheel will engage one of said contact plates and when adjacent the central portion of the hood will Witnesses:

C. E. SMITH, G. P. FEHRMANN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

